contributions

by LESLIE MILLER
WASHINGTON - The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.
Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a "lifetime achievement award" for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was (…)

By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Democrats on Wednesday charged that the national Republican party was linked to a group accused of trying to stop Democrats from registering to vote in at least two Western battleground states, Nevada and Oregon.
The accusations come as voters rush to meet registration deadlines and election officials around the country report surging registrations, with just three weeks to go in the cliffhanger U.S. presidential campaign.
"We have learned from (…)

ACLU of Florida Analysis of Recent Election Data Shows State Rejected a Significant Number of Provisional Ballots As Illegal October 12, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MIAMI — The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida today released a report containing disturbing information about the number of provisional ballots cast by eligible voters that have been rejected as illegal during elections over the past two years in Florida. The report raises significant questions about whether every (…)

By Kim Sengupta in Baghdad
The children lie on their hospital beds. A few cry, others just stare ahead. Their parents huddle around, trying to provide comfort.
These are not victims of the war, but of an alarming rise in disease and a shattered health system.
The hospital used to be called Saddam Children’s. It has been renamed Central Children’s, but the new name cannot hide old problems. The shortage of some vital drugs and equipment is worse than in the days of UN sanctions.
"The (…)

By Jeremy Laurance
Soaring rates of disease and a crippled health system are posing a new crisis for the people of Iraq, threatening to kill more than have died in the aftermath of the war. Deadly infections including typhoid and tuberculosis are rampaging through the country, according to the first official report into the state of health in the country.
The alarming evidence is the legacy of years of neglect, crippling sanctions and two bloody conflicts. Iraq’s network of hospitals and (…)

By Francisco Ugarte John Kerry and Terry McCauliff are mad. They just found out that Sinclair Broadcasting Group, owners of the largest chain of television stations in the country, will broadcast an hour-long film portraying John Kerry’s anti-war activism in the 1960’s. Sinclair has ordered all its affiliates to interrupt their normal prime time broadcasts. The film will be aired two weeks prior to the election. The film links Kerry to anti-war activist Jane Fonda, and includes (…)

by Mike Ferner Veterans For Peace Newsletter, Fal 2004
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/news/Newsletter-Fall2004-web.pdf He trolled for teenagers in North Carolina high schools, barked orders at recruits in boot camp, and pulled charred civilian corpses out of cars in Iraq. Now Jimmy Massey is making good on his promise to tell the whole world what he learned as a Marine. For the first ten years, Massey loved being in the USMC. With a quick mind and an easy manner he and his superiors (…)

Announcing ’radio rampART’, set up to provide coverage of the ESF in London over the next few weeks...
http://radio.indymedia.org:8000/rampART.m3u
It’s up now, for testing purposes, so ’tune in’ and let us know how it sounds.
Streaming from the Indymedia icecast server in the USA, our feed will loop various segements from previous events plus some live stuff as we test the system and learn the ropes during the next few days.
By next days, on the run up to the ESF, we should be (…)

by PAUL de ROOIJ
Given the current escalation of Israeli depredations in Gaza and the daily US bombings of Falluja, it is interesting to examine Amnesty International’s (AI) statements on the situation. AI is widely viewed as an authority on human rights issues, and thus it is of interest to analyze its output on these recent events. Careful scrutiny of AI’s record reveals that, its typical response to the daily obscene deeds by either Israeli or US armies is a few barely audible (…)

by Matthew Tempest
A rival counter-conference to this week’s European Social Forum in London is being planned to protest at the "hijacking" of the anti-war, global justice event by mainstream organisations and individuals such as the trade unions and the mayor of London.
This week’s ESF - the third annual meeting of leftwing and environmental activists from across Europe - is expected to attract around 20,000 people from across Europe for three days of debate. It will culminate in a (…)